Chapter 3

Sano's Record

Kaiya walked through the market until she came to a stand with pretty fabric. She didn't mean to stop, but the beautiful colors drew her in. She fingered a piece of pink cloth. It was so soft. She sighed as she drew herself away from the stand. "I must remember what I came here for."

She turned around and abruptly crashed into a lady that was obviously in a hurry. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going." "That's okay." the lady with long, dark hair said as she straightened herself up and wiped the dust off her clothing. The lady reached out her hand. "I'm Megumi. I'm practicing medicine here in Tokyo." Kaiya shook Megumi's hand. "I'm Kaiya. I." "I'm sorry, but I really have to go. Maybe I'll see you around town sometime when I'm not in such a hurry." "Yeah." Kaiya sighed as she watched the lady walk quickly away from her.

Kaiya asked a merchant where to find a place to eat. He pointed her in the direction of the Akabeko and off she went.

Sano stopped abruptly as they passed the Akabeko, causing Yahiko, who was following on his heels to crash into him. "Sano! You dough head! Why'd you stop?" Sano pointed to a redhead exiting the Akabeko. "Isn't that Kenshin?" "Hey, you're right. But that can't be. Kenshin's supposed to be at the dojo."

Sano walked up behind the redhead and reached out a hand to grab "him". "Hey Kenshin!" He said. "What are you doing here? I just sent Megumi to the dojo to check on your head!" "Megumi? Kenshin?!" the redhead turned around. "Hey you're not Kenshin! You're a girl!" Yahiko blurted. Sano recoiled. "Oops! Sorry lady. We thought you were someone else." "Really? Who?" she said. Sano thought a moment. Should he tell her about Kenshin? What if she was really out to get Kenshin? Or maybe he was jumping to conclusions. "Um.I don't think we should tell you." He said, carefully choosing his words. "And why not?" She retorted with the most piercing eyes.

Sano grinned. "Tell ya what. You fight me, and then I'll tell you who." The girl was taken aback for a moment, she regained her composure and said. "I suppose." She replied. "But let's not fight here. There are so many people." "You got yourself a deal, missy."

The girl chose a spot by the docks, where there were trees. She set her shoulder bag down by the base of a tree. Sano stretched his arms behind his head. It had been a long time since he had had the pleasure of fighting anyone. He wasn't quite sure how to approach this fighter though. He didn't necessarily like fighting girls, but since she accepted the challenge he wasn't about to go easy on her.

"Are you ready?" He called out. "Yes. Come and attack me. I dare you." She said, staring him down. But Sano was not about to be intimidated by a girl. "Here I come!" He shouted as he sprang towards her. He made a swing for her head, but his punch hit nothing but air. "Where'd she go?" He spun around and saw her behind him. He threw another punch, only to have the same result.

Yahiko stood a distance away, watching the fight. "To bad Kenshin isn't here to see Sano be beat by a girl." He chuckled as he watched one after another of Sano's attack miss. He wondered, though, why she hadn't attacked yet.

"Boy, it's going to take awhile to wear this guys energy down." Kaiya thought as she jumped and twirled to miss another one of the man's attacks. "This is actually sort of fun." She smiled to herself.

"When is she ever going to attack." Sano thought. His energy was starting to drain. "It's a good thing Kenshin isn't here incase this girl actually beats me." He threw a mighty punch. Once again the girl jumped up in the air. But she didn't come back down. Finally after what seemed like forever, Sano got the courage to look up. What he saw made him laugh.

As the girl had jumped into the air she went by a tree limb, which snagged on her shirt. There she hung, high above everyone's heads, her feet dangling as she tried to free herself, but to no avail.

"Hey!" Kaiya shouted, her face turning a bright red with anger. "Stop laughing and get me down!" Sano just doubled over in laughter, and Yahiko the same. "CRACK!" The sound echoed through the woods. Everyone froze. "Oh, oh." Kaiya exclaimed. Yahiko watched with horror as the limb started breaking away from the tree. Then the limb became totally separated from it's base.

Downward Kaiya fell. She tried to keep her balance, but it's hard to do that when you have a limb stuck down your shirt. She tried to land on her feet, but the minute she touched the ground she tumbled over backwards with the limb. She and the limb hit the ground with an audible thud.

Sano didn't move. He stood, staring at what had taken place. He looked over at the girl. She wasn't moving. "Well go see if she's alright!" Yahiko pushed Sano forward. He walked over to the limb and threw it to the edge of the forest. It made a satisfactory thump in the brush. Then he bent over the girl. "Hey, missy! Are you okay?" He shouted. Yahiko slapped his forehead. Was there no hope for Sano to ever learn some manners?

Kaiya opened her eyes slowly. She looked up at her opponents face. Sano repeated his enquiry. "Hey! Are you alright?" Kaiya squinted her eyes and moaned. The fall had knocked the wind out of her. "I will be when your head stops moving." she managed to say.

Yahiko walked up beside Sano. "Sano, I'm just curious." He said with a devious smile. "But are you like trying to set a personal record of how many head injuries you can inflict in one day." "Hey Yahiko!" Sano said forming a fist and waving it in the kid's face. "If I am, would you like to be one of them?" "Uh, no thanks." He said waving his hands and backing away, quickly. "I'd like to keep my brain unscrambled please." "Okay. Then shut up." Yahiko gulped. It wasn't as fun making fun of Sano as it was Karou.

Sano turned his attention back to the girl. "Hey, do you like need a doctor or something?" "Oh, I'll be fine." She said as she rose to her feet, and immediately fell over. "OW!" she exclaimed grabbing her ankle. "What?" "I think I must have done something to my ankle or something.I'll be fine" She said in a hazed voice before blacking out.